diff --git a/utils/bazel/.bazelrc b/utils/bazel/.bazelrc
--- a/utils/bazel/.bazelrc
+++ b/utils/bazel/.bazelrc
@@ -45,10 +45,6 @@
 # not the point of the Bazel build to catch usage of deprecated APIs.
 build:generic_clang --copt=-Wno-deprecated --host_copt=-Wno-deprecated
 
-# lld links faster than other linkers. Assume that anybody using clang also has
-# lld available.
-build:generic_clang --linkopt=-fuse-ld=lld --host_linkopt=-fuse-ld=lld
-
 ###############################################################################
 # Options for "generic_gcc" builds: these options should generally apply to
 # builds using a GCC-based compiler, and default to the `gcc` executable on
@@ -168,6 +164,36 @@
 # Show test errors.
 build:ci --test_output=errors
 
+# lld links faster than other linkers. Assume that anybody using clang also has
+# lld available.
+#
+# TODO: move this to generic_clang once bazel pre-merge checks are fixed
+build:ci --linkopt=-fuse-ld=lld --host_linkopt=-fuse-ld=lld
+
+# Workaround bazel pre-merge failures after RBE was removed. Instead ci should
+# be used, but this provides a fix for bazel pre-merge checks until an owner
+# can fix this properly. Additionally provide rbe like functionality here.
+build:rbe --remote_cache=https://storage.googleapis.com/llvm-bazel-cache
+build:rbe --google_default_credentials=true
+
+# Following is expanded --config=ci without linkopt and host_linkopt settings
+# This undoes linker settings in generic_clang that are not supported in the
+# current environment of the bazel pre-merge checks. Remove once the docker
+# container is updated with clang-13 and lld-13 and replace with config=ci
+build:rbe --repo_env=CC=clang
+build:rbe --cxxopt=-std=c++17 --host_cxxopt=-std=c++17
+build:rbe --copt=-Wall --copt=-Werror --host_copt=-Wall --host_copt=-Werror
+build:rbe --cxxopt=-Wno-range-loop-analysis --host_cxxopt=-Wno-range-loop-analysis
+build:rbe --copt=-Wno-deprecated --host_copt=-Wno-deprecated
+build:rbe --copt=-O1
+build:rbe --sandbox_base=/dev/shm
+build:rbe --build_tag_filters=-nobuildkite
+build:rbe --test_tag_filters=-nobuildkite
+build:rbe --keep_going
+build:rbe --test_output=errors
+
+
+
 ###############################################################################
 
 # The user.bazelrc file is not checked in but available for local mods.